William Dieterle

Murnau’s epic adaptation of Goethe’s tragedy stands with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis among the supreme achievements of German silent cinema. Gösta Ekman plays the alchemist who, his faith shaken in a time of plague, is offered the gift of healing and eternal youth… in exchange for his soul.

Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.

In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending him to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are–contrary to Scripture–nearing conversion to the new religion.

In Depression-era New York, painter Eben Adams despairs at his lack of success. One cold winter evening in Central Park, he meets enigmatic, old-fashioned Jennie Appleton, who captures his fancy when she asks him to wait for her to grow up. Soon after, Eben sells a sketch of Jennie to kindly art dealer Miss Spinny and, as he meets the oddly mutable Jennie in fleeting moments, begins to realize they share a special destiny.

Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.

Two years after trespassing on South African diamond company land, safari guide Mike Davis returns, but, instead of sending his heavy, the manager hires a seductive adventuress to ferret out his secrets, unaware of the extent Davis is willing to go.

War hero Danny Haley fleeces out-of-town dupes in a rigged poker game. He and his pals see Arthur Winant as an easy mark, but they've reckoned without Winant's homicidal brother, who wants revenge after Arthur commits suicide.

Mistaken identity, unrequited love, and the supernatural are combined in Shakespeare's classic set in the woods of Greece on a moonlit night.

When college student Bill Perry grows inappropriately fond of psychology professor Wilma Tuttle and tries to rape her, her self-defense inadvertently kills him. Wilma then moves Bill's corpse to a nearby beach and makes his death look like the result of a cliff diving accident. But her guilt over the incident builds, and Lt. Ted Dorgan begins to suspect that Wilma knows more than she's letting on.

Special prosecutor John Conroy hopes to combat organized crime and appoints his cop father Matt as chief investigator. John doesn't understand Matt's reluctance, but cynical reporter Jerry McKibbon thinks he knows: he's seen Matt with mob lieutenant Harrigan. Jerry's friendship with John is tested by the question of what to do about Matt, and by his attraction to John's girl Amanda. Meanwhile, the threatened racketeers adopt increasingly violent means of defense.

Mary Marshall, serving six years for accidental manslaughter, is given a Christmas furlough to visit her closest relatives, her uncle and his family in a small Midwestern town. On the journey, she meets Zach Morgan, a troubled army sergeant on leave from a military hospital. Although his physical wounds have healed, he suffers from PTSD and is subject to panic attacks. The pair are attracted to one another and, in the warm atmosphere of the Christmas season friendship, blossoms into romance, but Mary is reluctant to tell him of her past and that she must shortly return to serve the remainder of her sentence.

Master thief Mario Forni and bordello owner Madame Rinaldi use confusion over a miracle to loot a local statue's legendary treasure.

The newly-named emperor Maximilian and his wife Carlota arrive in Mexico to face popular sentiment favoring Benito Juárez and democracy.

Alan Quinton, a soldier stationed in Italy during World War II, writes love letters for his ineloquent friend, Roger, to his romantic interest at home, Victoria. Alan falls for Victoria through their correspondence despite his engagement to another. After being wounded, Alan returns home only to learn that Roger and Victoria have died under strange circumstances. However, an amnesiac named Singleton might hold the key to the mystery of their deaths.

Farmer Jabez Stone, about to lose his land, agrees to sell his soul to the devil, known as Mr. Scratch, who gives Jabez seven years to enjoy the fruits of his sale before he collects. Over that time, Jabez pays off his debts and helps many neighboring farmers, then becomes an advocate for the upstanding Sen. Daniel Webster. When Jabez's contract with Mr. Scratch concludes, he desperately turns to Webster to represent him in a trial for his soul.

When military doctor Andre Morand is wrongfully convicted of murder, he escapes the firing squad with the help of his friend, Jean. Taking refuge in a mission run by the uncle of the beautiful Margot, Andre agrees to care for the sick. After professing his love for Margot, he learns that she is engaged to Jean, who is now sick. Vowing to return to aid Jean and others, Andre prepares to face death, but a series of events may turn things in his favor.

In Victorian England, Florence Nightingale's heroic measures slowly change the attitude towards nurses when it was considered a disreputable profession.

Former prostitute Maddalena, exiled to the island of her birth by the police, suffers ostracism by the locals, as she tries to defend her younger sister's virtue from the advances of a deep-sea diver.

Towards the end of the American Civil War, a rebel captain flees to Colorado to join a band of Southern mercenaries. He drags an innocent gold prospecting couple into trouble when the husband is accused of a murder he committed.

Die Weber (1927), a rousing German tale of the 1844 weavers’ revolution.

Valkyr Bradford takes the assistance of a society reporter and a journalist to investigate the disappearance of her half-sister Arlene, a wealthy socialite involved in criminal activities.

A poet is hired by the owner of a wax museum in a circus to write tales about Harun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible and Jack the Ripper. While writing, the poet and the daughter of the owner, Eva, fantasize the fantastic stories and fall in love for each other.

In ancient Baghdad, penniless beggar Hafiz dotes on his beautiful daughter, Marsinah, at home and adopts the dashing and wealthy persona of the Prince of Hassir on the streets. While wooing the glamorous Lady Jamilla, wife of the Grand Vizier, Hafiz accidentally ignites a battle between the treacherous Vizier and the rakish Caliph for his daughter's hand in marriage, in the process exposing each man's secrets.

Before Ruth Vincent, daughter of a state governor, and state attorney general Robert Sheldon can announce their marriage, the governor is accused of taking bribes. To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, they decide to keep their marriage secret. The political intrigue complicates, and no one is quite what they seem. Soon, Sheldon and Ruth must decide between saving the governor's career and an innocent person's life.

Presented by Eastman Kodak, this show was a series of original scripts directed by acclaimed directors and featuring well-known performers. The stories ranged from musicals to comedies and dramas.